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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28188909">Ghost Story</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FunAndWhimsy/pseuds/FunAndWhimsy'>FunAndWhimsy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fódlan Flora [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Character Study, Coda, F/M, Ghosts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 21:54:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,163</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28188909</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FunAndWhimsy/pseuds/FunAndWhimsy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Dimitri introduces Bernadetta to his family.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Bernadetta von Varley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fódlan Flora [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2065026</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Ghost Story</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Just a little piece I wrote while I was working on Fódlan Flora, set aside because it didn't work in the fic itself, and wanted to toss up as a little Dimitri &amp; Bernadetta's birthdays treat.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bernadetta is good about not asking questions Dimitri does not want to answer, so long as he isn't hurting anyone - himself included - by not answering. He suspects she has her reasons for that, but Dimitri is also good at not asking those questions. Bernadetta will ride days out of her way to avoid Varley, she trusts criticism and suspects each compliment is a trap, and she cannot sit still for very long without looking hunted, haunted, scanning the room for exits; Dimitri looks to the corners of rooms and carries on half-conversations when he forgets she is there to hear, gives graveyards and memorials a wide berth, cries apologies to empty rooms when his head is aching. It is one of the ways they suit each other, each understanding sometimes one must keep secrets for one's own sake.  </p>
<p>It is, oddly, that understanding that makes Dimitri want to share his secrets, to hand her his burdens and see what sort of clever bag she might fashion to help carry them, to remind her he is willing to share the load if she is inclined to let him. And so finally, when he once again notices her eyes follow him to the corner of the room, to a chair mostly used for hats and scarves and cloaks, Dimitri moves to lay his load at her feet.</p>
<p>"I could tell you what I'm always looking at, if you like," he says.</p>
<p>Bernadetta looks up at him, narrowing her eyes the way she does at a dropped stitch or an awkward tear, assessing.</p>
<p>"Only if you want to," she says.</p>
<p>"I am not often alone," Dimitri says. "Or, well, <i>we</i> are not often alone, I suppose. I am - there are visions."</p>
<p>"Ghosts?"</p>
<p>"I - well, yes."</p>
<p>"Felix," she says, with a little smile, an easy explanation for so many things. Goddess, the way Felix must have presented it - but then, she has proved often enough her skill at finding the truth of Felix's stories and setting the rest aside. "I didn't think he was serious, but...you talk to them."</p>
<p>"I forget myself," he says, and Bernadetta nods, her smile softening into something gentle and understanding.</p>
<p>"I know," she says, and settles down with her head on his chest, the ends of her hair tickling pleasantly. "I'd like to know who they are, if you don't mind telling me. You don't have to, of course, but - "</p>
<p>"There is Glenn," Dimitri says, inclining his head towards the chair though she isn't looking at him anymore; Glenn isn't even there now, but it is his preferred spot in their little home. "Felix's brother. He is around the most, and speaks the most. I worry that perhaps he is lonely, or maybe he thinks I am. He is - you understand, of course, as an older brother he's somewhat protective. He's wary of you; he believes you broke Felix's heart."</p>
<p>"I suppose I did," Bernadetta says. Dimitri traces patterns on her arm, reminding himself as he often does that as soft as her skin is, as sensitive, she trusts him to touch her with care and the gentleness she deserves. "Tell him I'm sorry?"</p>
<p>"I will," Dimitri says. "Though I should warn you, he may not forgive you if you break mine as well."</p>
<p>"Then I'd better not," Bernadetta says, and presses a kiss to Dimitri's chest.</p>
<p>"I - ah, good," he says; it is a clever trick of Bernadetta's, to flirt with him when he is being earnest and catch him off guard. Dimitri can feel his face heating, and likely his chest under her soft cheek, and it takes him a moment to remember what he was intending to say. "I - then there is my father. He is quite - he was a kind man in life, truly, but hard in the way I suppose kings must be, and he was always the loudest, the angriest, when things were at their worst. He was certain you would do me harm, that any follower of Edelgard's - he is calmer now. You would bring me tea and sit with me when my head hurt, when they were all screaming for my attention, and he would look at you each time as if seeing you anew."</p>
<p>"I just didn't like seeing you suffer."</p>
<p>"And yet you came to me, and sat there, and saw it, each time. I told him you were gentle, and he told me you were strong."</p>
<p>Two can play at Bernadetta's game; she squeaks, an odd little sound Dimitri isn't sure she knows she makes when she is complimented, and he can feel her press her face into his chest, hiding even though he isn't looking at her. Lambert would have liked Bernadetta, he thinks, though his memories of his father have warped over time and he cannot be sure how good his judgement is. She has - she would be a good queen, if she could be convinced, if Dimitri had been forced to try and be a good king.</p>
<p>"I know they are not truly ghosts," Dimitri says. "Patricia - my stepmother - used to be among them, until I learned she did not actually die in the attack. If this was a haunting, I would have never seen her at all, or learning she died some other time would not drive her away. I only see her now when things are about to get bad; sometimes, when she is at my father's side, it is early enough I can try to sleep more, or eat better, or relax more, and keep the worst from coming, though I am still not very good at that. She - after Fhirdiad she stayed, until Ailell. I thought I must have invited her back in by going home, and perhaps I did, but "</p>
<p>"And the worst is when you have your headaches."</p>
<p>Dimitri nods, the underside of his chin brushing Bernadetta's hair. "I'm sure one of them causes the other, though I have never figured out which. I have seen so many people - the knights who were with us when we were attacked, everyone I killed in Duscur, Imperial guards and soldiers from my escape during the war, so many have died in front of me or at my hands, and they all come when I am at my weakest."</p>
<p>Bernadetta is quiet, though she reaches for one of Dimitri's hand to squeeze it so he knows she merely does not know what to say. He doesn't blame her, simply squeezes her hand back - gently - to show he understands, and closes his eyes for a moment to collect himself. When he opens them again, Glenn is sat comfortably in his chair, watching them; he smiles, quiet and crooked, and Dimitri nods at him before turning his attention away. He presses a kiss to the top of Bernadetta's head, and wraps her in his arms, and closes his eyes once more to see if this will be one of the nights sleep chooses to visit him.</p>
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